Debate Between Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly Marred by Live Stream Failure

Saturday night’s debate between Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly infuriated fans as a server crash left the event’s live stream largely inaccessible. The debate took place at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and was available to those outside the auditorium only via a $4.95 pay-per-view live stream. When the live stream went down, many fans who planned their Saturday nights around the debate, some even organizing watch parties, grew furious.

As fan frustration built, the debate’s Facebook page became an instant repository for their rage. One fan, Charlie Miller, complained about what he felt was poor customer service. “The website was looking awful fraud-y after taking my money then pretending it had never heard of me, then closing my customer service ticket without any resolution, then saying ‘reply to this email if you need further assistance’ but making it impossible to do so due to an undeliverable email address.” Another fan, Caleb Wilson II, put it more succinctly: ”I HAVEN’T HAD A DAY THIS BAD SINCE MY DOG DIED ON CHRISTMAS, LITERALLY.”

On Twitter, Washington Post columnist Eric Wemple summed up the feelings of many when he tweeted “The only #theRumble2012 that I’m having is with my computer.”

Film critic Roger Ebert weighed in as well, expressing frustration after he promoted the debate via his social media channels:

Event organizers did post an apology on the debate’s Facebook page. ”We apologize for any inconvenience,” they wrote, “and we’re working to resolve the issue.” But the apology did not appease fans, hundreds took to the comments section to demand refunds.

The debate’s pricing model seemed to take a page out comedian Louis C.K.’s book. Earlier this year, C.K. produced and sold his own comedy special for five dollars online. The special was a hit, earning more than $1 million dollars on the strength of over 220,000 downloads.

But C.K.’s special was not a live event, and his servers were able to withstand the massive number of downloads spread out over time. This debate’s live format, on the other hand, clearly stressed servers to the point where they collapsed.

Many fans, uninterested in waiting for the problem to be fixed, either gave up or turned to alternate streaming services. This migration likely caused a significant loss of revenue for debate organizers. One fan, writing about his experience, tweeted: “So, I’m stealing #therumble2012 because their site imploded. Piracy certainly greases the wheels of culture.”

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